15 Incredibly Creative Resumes Made By Ad Execs Looking For Work

When copywriters and art directors are looking for jobs in advertising their most valuable tool is their portfolio, which contains all of their previously produced ads, usually on a website.

But in this tough job market, the way that the portfolio is introduced and packaged is just as important as the work it contains. Some art directors and copywriters are going above and beyond to make their portfolios stand out.

Guerrilla stunts, social media takeovers, QR codes, and posing nude (like this guy) are just some of the ways that advertising creatives are getting the attention of top agencies.

When copywriter Lawson Clark found himself out of work in 2009, he decided to revamp his portfolio site. The site itself is not that flashy, but the former Arnold employee's homage to Burt Reynolds on the home page definitely shows off his brand of humor.

This creative team took creative directors' websites ransom to get a job.

Andrew Grinter and Lee Spencer-Michaelsen decided to take a more aggressive approach by sending mysterious notes — using letters cut from magazines — to top creative directors in Melbourne. The notes directed each director to a URL that a held digital ransom note.

The demand was simple: "arrange a creative meeting or else the site gets it." Those who agreed were met by Grinter and Spencer-Michaelsen in traditional kidnapper ski-masks.

It worked: The pair has been working at DT Digital/Ogilvy since September 2011.

This creative director made a 261-page PDF to list his awards.

Last June, Agency Spy posted that Alma DDB Creative Director, Raymundo Vargas had a 261-page PDF listing every award he had ever received during his 20 year career on his portfolio site. Unfortunately for us, however, the pdf is no longer on the site.

Once Agency Spy alerted the masses to it - and called into question Vargas's ego - the CD must have removed it. He had this to say:

"I put together that website ONLY as part of my visa application. It was easier for everybody to see the documents and spots. Never intended to have that site as my portfolio and no, is not an ego trip."

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This copywriter spent $6 to buy potential employers' names on AdWords because creative directors like to Google themselves.

When Alec Brownstein needed a job, he invested in Google keywords. More specifically, he bought the names of some of the top creative directors in New York, like David Droga and Ian Reichenthal.

The idea was that whenever one of these guys Googled himself an ad would appear at the top of the page calling out the director with an ad that said "Googling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too" and a link to his portfolio.

This creative team let their parents do the talking.

The proud parents of Maximilian Hoch and Manuel Urbanke are apparently showing of their sons' work in this portfolio site, My Son Does Advertising.

While we all know that the team built this website, like any good campaign they followed through on the parent concept in every detail. They even sent this pitch email to rubbishcorp.com:

Good Day. We are the parents of Manuel and Maximilian. Both of them are doing advertising together in a team. Maximilian writes funny sentences and Manuel does the colorful pictures for it. We are very proud of our sons and know that doing advertising is very stressful. That's why we wanted to share with the world how much we love the work of our little sweethearts. On our blog we show their work, but now we also want the whole internet to see it. That's why we thought it would be nice mister rubbishcorp if you could help us spreading our little blog. I send you a virtual mother hug mister rubbishcorp.

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This art director turned a regular resume into something memorable with a QR code.

When French art director, Victor Petit, was looking for an internship he decided to spice up his resume with a QR code. While we are not sure what he actually says in the QR video (there is no sound here) it obviously impressed someone because he got an internship.

"I realized during my previous job search that getting an interview at a communication agency is the hardest part of the process. I tried to create a CV that would enable me to express myself vocally as soon as they read the paper version."

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This copywriter used a Twitter quest to show off his talents.

When copywriter Mark Trueblood was looking for a job in 2010, he decided to show off his creative skills with a "choose your own adventure" style quest on Twitter. The quest takes you through a series of scenarios where you have to choose one of two options and ultimately leads to his portfolio. Give it a try here.

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This woman sent a plant pot to every employee at Droga5.

Tanja Oberst of Berlin wanted to work at Droga5. But instead of sending a regular old resume, Oberst flew to Melbourne and hand delivered 'Petunja' (a plant) that also contained her cover letter, instructions for feeding and a QR code that linked through to a portfolio blog.

Even when Oberst was told that Droga was not hiring, she persisted and sent a package to everyone on the Droga5 team that contained a kit for growing sprouts and a QR code that led to instructions she had created to show how she could support the team.

While she did not get a job there, her attempt was nothing if not totally outside the box.

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This Atlanta copywriter said he would do "whatever you want me to"—on CraigsList.

The ad begins with Travis Broyles saying that he will do "whatever you want me to do for less money than whoever you are paying to do it now." He eventually weaves in his hourly rate of $50/hour while listing the other things he will do for different increments of money.

This London copywriter used Google Maps to create his resume.

As a copywriter specializing in digital campaigns who has lived in five different countries, using Google Maps seemed like a simple way for Ed Hamilton to organize his work history. Interact with a live version here.

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This creative team asks creative directors to "HIRE US" on Twitter.

When the freelance creative team of Bas van de Poel and Daan van Dam looked for a new gig, they created five Twitter accounts and used them to make the phrase "HIRE US" appear on different creative directors' Twitter pages.

This copywriter uses his "girlfriend" to land him a job.

Miguel Durão hoped to draw in potential employers with a video of his model "girlfriend." There's a payoff at the end of the video, but critics like the ad blogger Copyranter didn't think it was very smart. Still, it probably made a couple of recruiters laugh.

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This copywriter jumped on the latest social media craze with her Pinterest portfolio.